Ti,4 



/ / 



/ 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 

m 

015 845 496 8 





! 
What The 




War Teaches 




or 




The Greatest 




Lessons of 




1917 




R. A. TORREY 




Dean of Bible Institute of Los Angeles 




Price 5c each ; 50c dozen. 






THE BIOLA BOOK ROOM 

Bible Institute of Los Angeles 

536-558 South Hope Street 

Los Angeles, California. 


52^ 
'64 


\ 
1 


Copyright 1918 
By R. A. Torrey 


py 





THE GREATEST LESSONS OF 1917 

"We must work the works of Him that sent me, 
while it is day : the night cometh, when no man can 
work." John 9:4. 

Our subject is, "The Greatest Lessons of 1917." 
You will find the text in John 9 :4, "We must work 
the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: 
the night cometh, when no man can work." You 
may not see at first the connection between the 
subject and the text, but you will as we go on, and 
especially as we close. The year that is just ending 
is the most momentous that any man now living 
has ever seen. There is reason to suppose that 1918 
will be still more momentous, but that still lies in 
the future, about which it is not very safe to specu- 
late. The day in which we are living is the day of 
the largest opportunity and loudest call to unstinted 
self-sacrifice and untiring service. I would rather 
live today than any day of this old world's history. 
Every year has its lessons, but no other year is so 
rich in lessons as this. 

I. THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD. 

The first great lesson that 1917 teaches is that 
the Bible is the Word of God. 

There has always been abundant proof that the 
Bible is the Word of God, but the occurrences of 
the present year give fresh, up-to-date illustration 
and proof that it is so. The year 1917 proves that 
the Bible is the Word of God in three ways: 

1. First of all, the year 1917 proves the Bible to 
be the Word of God by fulfilling its prophecies. 
Fulfilled prophecy is conclusive proof that the Bible 
is the Word of God. Any book that has the power 
of looking centuries into the future and predicting 
with minuteness, precision and accuracy of time 
person, place and circumstance, events to occur cen- 
turies later, must have for its Author the only Being 
in the universe that knows the end from the begin- 
ning, that is, God. Three lines of prophecy have 
been particularly fulfilled this year : 

(1) First, prophecies about the Jews. There are 
two lines of prophecy concerning the Jews that 
have been fulfilled in a striking way during the past 

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year. 'In the first place, prophecies regarding the 
sufferings to come upon the Jews in consequence 
of their disobedience to the revealed will of God as 
given through Moses. In Deut. 28:37, 41, 47, 48, 
58, 59, 64-67 we read, "And thou shalt become an 
astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among all 
the peoples whither Jehovah shall lead thee away. 
. . . Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but 
they shall not be thine ; for they shall go into cap- 
tivity. . . . Because thou servdst not Jehovah 
thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, 
by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore 
shalt thou serve thine enemies that Jehovah shall 
send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in 
nakedness, and in want of all things; and he shall 
put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have de- 
stroyed thee. ... If thou wilt not observe to 
do all the words of this law that are written in this 
book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful 
name, JEHOVAH THY GOD; then Jehovah will 
make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy 
seed, even great plagues and of long continuance, 
and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 
. . And Jehovah will scatter thee among all 
peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto 
the other end of the earth; and there thou shalt 
serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou 
nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. And among 
:hese nations shalt thou find no ease, and there 
shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot; but Jehovah 
will give thee there a trembling heart, and failing 
Df eyes, and pining of soul; and thy life shall hang 
in doubt before thee ; and thou shalt fear night and 
day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life. In 
:he morning thou shalt say. Would it were even, 
md at even thou shalt say, Would it were morning; 
for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and 
for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see." 
rhese predictions made so many thousand years 
igo, have been in the process of fulfillment for cen- 
:uries, but never have they been so remarkably ful- 
filled as during the past year, notably among the 
fews in Poland, but also in other lands. In the 
second place, a second line of prophecies concern- 
ng the Jews have been fulfilled in a notable manner 

3 



in 1917, namely, prophecies Concerning the return- 
ing fullness of blessing and glory that is to come 
to Israel, and their return to their native land. 
These promises of future glory for Israel have for 
centuries seemed impossible of fulfillment, but today 
we see them in course of fulfillment before our very 
eyes. This is indicated in two ways : first, by the 
place the Jew now occupies in the government of 
nations. There is not time to go into this in detail, 
but if there were it could be shown that to an 
amazing extent the leading men in the control of 
the government and commerce and international re- 
lations of England and France and Germany are 
Jews. The man who stands at the forefront in 
Russia at the present time, Trotzky, is a Jew. A 
Russian friend who left Petrograd Nov. 29th and 
who is well informed told me today that there are 
forty men who really rule there, and that thirty of 
these forty are Jews though they have taken Rus- 
sian names. The Jew will have much to say about 
the settlement of the present war. In addition to 
this, we have the recent capture of Jerusalem by the 
English forces, and England's declaration that 
Jerusalem is to be turned over to the Jews. In such 
things as these there is the clearest indication that 
we are well on the way toward the fulfillment of 
the seemingly incredible prophecies of the Bible 
regarding the future glory of the Jew, when "the 
times of the Gentiles" shall have ended. For cen- 
turies Jerusalem has been trodden down of the 
nations (that is, the Gentile nations), as the Lord 
Jesus predicted it would be (Luke 21 :24) ; and now 
that "the times of the Gentiles" are near their ful- 
fillment Jerusalem is apparently about to pass from 
the Gentiles back to the Jew, as our Lord predicted 
it would (Luke 21:24). 

(2) A second class of prophecies has been ful- 
filled in a remarkable way during the year that is 
just ending, and that is prophecies concerning war. 
The Bible declares that in the last days of this dis- 
pensation there shall be a multiplying of wars. Our 
Lord said, "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors 
of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for these 
things must needs come to pass; but the end is not 
yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and king- 

4 



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dom against kingdom; and there shall be famines 
and earthquakes in divers places. But all these 
things are the beginning of travail." (Matt. 24:6-8. 
See also Jer. 25 -.26-33.) And God declared through 
the prophet Daniel, in Dan. 9 :26,, that "Even unto 
the end (i. e., the end of this dispensation) shall 
be war." A short time ago these prophecies seemed 
impossible of fulfillment. Our wise men, our phil- 
osophers and our statesmen said that a great war 
was an impossibility. We had our Hague Confer- 
ences, and built our Peace Palaces, and on the very 
day of the outbreak of the war, the representatives 
of different nations were gathering at Geneva for a 
Peace Conference. Any one who dared to say that 
the most awful war in the world's history was com- 
ing was regarded as a crank and a fanatic. A few 
years ago, before the outbreak of the present war, 
The Christian Herald wrote to me and to different 
persons in this country and across the water, asking 
our opinion about these Peace Movements, and 
whether we thought that there ever could be another 
great war. In answer to this letter of inquiry, I 
wrote that I was in favor of anything that made 
for peace even temporarily, but that as far as there 
never being another great war was concerned, I 
knew my Bible too well not to know that there could 
not be permanent peace, but that there was ahead 
of us the most awful war in all the world's history. 
Many regarded me as a crank for this statement of 
opinion, but where are we today? 

(3) There is a third class of prophecies in process 
of fulfillment this year, that is, prophecies concern- 
ing the last days. We read in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, "But 
know this, that in the last days grievous times shall 
come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of 
money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to 
parents, unthankful, unholy; without natural affec- 
tion, implacable (or, trucebreakers), slanderers, with- 
out self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, 
headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than 
lovers of God; holding a form of godliness (Gott 
mit uns), but having denied the power thereof." 
Until comparatively recently, social philosophers, 
theologians and popular preachers had persuaded 
themselves, and sought to persuade us, that we were 

5 



hurrying at express rate toward a millennium of 
universal peace, righteousness and love. Any one 
who ventured to point to the plain predictions of 
God's Word regarding "the last days" was regarded 
as belonging "to a second-class school of religious 
fanatics." But what has been the history of 1917? 
It is pictured exactly in these ignored or despised 
words of Paul which I have just read. If this year 
1917 had sat before the camera it could not have 
been more accurately photographed than it is here 
in God's camera. 

2. The year 1917 proves the Bible to be the Word 
of God in a second way, that is, by illustrating and 
confirming its teachings. The teachings of the Bible 
that have been illustrated and confirmed this year 
are very many. I will call your attention to but three. 
First of all, 1 John 2:17, "And the world passeth 
away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth 
the will of God abideth forever." Every year for 
centuries has been a confirmation of this verse, but 
never has the transitory character of this present 
world been more wonderfully illustrated than in the 
year 1917, when dynasties are changing, thrones are 
tottering, forms of government are crumbling and 
dissolving, fortunes are vanishing, reputations are 
going, and all earthly things are passing away in a 
most astounding manner. Second, Jer. 17 :5, "Thus 
saith Jehovah : Cursed is the man that trusteth in 
man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart de- 
parteth from Jehovah." We have been trusting in 
man, putting our confidence in the arm of flesh; 
we have depended upon our great statesmen, our 
great philosophers, our great scientists, and our 
great soldiers. We have departed from God; we 
have ignored Him in our plans. When I say "we" 
I mean not only America, but all the nations of the 
earth. And the arm of flesh has failed us; the 
unexpected has happened, time and time again. Ruin 
has overtaken all nations. Men have been wonder- 
ing why God did not stop the war. If men choose 
to put their trust in one another instead of in Him, 
why should He not in His infinite wisdom and right- 
eousness let men drink to the dregs the bitter cup 
which they have mixed for themselves? It is but 
a fulfillment of His own Word. In the third place, 

6 



the year 1917 has wonderfully illustrated and con- 
firmed the teaching of the Word of God regarding 
the essential total depravity of man at his best 
natural estate. The Bible teaching that man, until 
born again, is at enmity with God (Rom. 8:7), that 
his will is perverse, his affections corrupt, and his 
mind blinded, has been much doubted in recent 
years, it has been held to be a false representation 
of human nature, but the events of 1917 make it 
as clear as day that it is an exact picture of man as 
he is without God. The year has brought clearly 
to light what rulers and people are at heart, and 
what has been brought to light is in exact accord- 
ance with the teaching of the Bible, 

3. The year 1917 has proved the Bible to be the 
Word of God in a third way, that is by the way in 
which the Bible meets present day needs, the deepest 
needs of men and women in this year of our Lord 
1917. To what book shall we go in such strange 
and trying days as these are? There is but one 
book to which we can go. Last Monday there was 
a striking editorial in the Los Angeles Times. The 
Los Angeles Times is not supposed to be a religious 
paper, but the editor writes : "The Bible is the one 
great book for all peoples and all times. In it is 
to be found the inspiration for all civilization and 
all material and spiritual advancement of individuals 
and nations. The time will come when the Bible 
will be read and studied, not only in Sunday-schools, 
but in all the public schools of the country. The 
time will come when to be unacquainted with the 
Bible and the wisdom it teaches will mark a man 
as uneducated, if not indeed unfit for his duty to 
himself, his family, and to society at large." This 
statement is undoubtedly true, at least in so far 
as it says that "the Bible is the one great book for 
all peoples and all times." The year now closing 
has proved this beyond a question. How utterly in- 
sufficient for such days of reality and storm and 
stress and crisis in individual, social, commercial 
and national life as these, are such shallow and 
vapid philosophies as Christian Science, Theosophy, 
New Thought, vSpiritualism and all similar mixtures 
of bombast and hot air, but how all-sufficient is the 

7 



Divine philosophy of God's own and only book — 
the Bible. 

II. THE CERTAINTY OF THE EXISTENCE, 

CUNNING AND POWER OF A 
PERSONAL DEVIL. 
The second great lesson that the year 1917 teaches 
is the certainty of the existence, cunning and power 
of a personal Devil. Belief in the existence of a 
personal Devil such as is pictured, not in Milton or 
Goethe, but in the Bible, had well-nigh died out 
among men, but the events of the past year can be 
explained only by postulating his existence. How 
can you account for the Kaiser and his infamous 
generals. Von Bissing and the rest, except by seeing 
the Devil back of them, just such a Devil as the 
Bible describes? How can you account for the 
abominable utterances, not only of such demonized 
philosophers and political writers as Nietzsche, 
Treitschke, and Bernhardi, but of such hitherto 
highly esteemed critics, theologians and philosophers 
as Harnack, Deissmann and Eucken, except by dis- 
cerning a very brainy, very astute Devil back of 
them? It is not hard to believe in a personal Devil 
today, indeed, it is a mark of a lack of logical acu- 
men and candor not to believe in his existence. 

III. THAT THERE MUST BE A HELL IN 

THE WORLD TO COME. 
The third great lesson of the year 1917 is that 
there must be a hell in the world to come. In re- 
cent years men have had no faith, or a very hazy 
faith, in there being a very dreadful hell in the 
world to come, but these present days demand Hell. 
What else can compensate for the nameless, in- 
describable atrocities committed by German officers 
of culture and intelligence upon the women and 
children of France and Belgium, but a hell as awful 
as that described in the Bible? In the light of the 
events of the present year, of course, there is a hell. 
If there were not, there would be a strange and 
unaccountable lack in the moral order of the uni- 
verse. If I did not believe in Hell in such days as 
these it would be difficult for me to believe in a holy 
and righteous God. 

8 



IV. THE TERRIBLE RESULTS OF THE EVO- 
LUTIONARY HYPOTHESIS WHEN CAR- 
RIED TO ITS LOGICAL CONCLUSIONS. 

The fourth important lesson of the year 1917 is 
the terrible results of the evolutionary hypothesis 
when carried to its inevitable logical conclusions. 
There is not time to go into that at any length, 
but if there were I could show you by quotations 
from Nietzsche, Treitschke, Bernhardi, Klaus, Wag- 
ner and other German philosophers and political 
writers, upon whose writings lies the immediate re- 
sponsibility for the present war. that the war was 
the direct product of German Neo-Darwinism. For 
example, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, to whose 
philosophy more than that of any one else the Ger- 
man state of mind that led to this war is due, says 
in his book, "The Joyous Wisdom," Section 7)11 : "We 
children of the future do not by any means think 
it desirable that the kingdom of righteousness and 
peace should be established on the earth. . . . We 
rejoice in all men who, like ourselves, love danger, 
war, and adventure. . . . We count ourselves 
among the conquerors; we ponder over the need of 
a new order of things, even of a new slavery — for 
every strengthening and elevation of the type 'man' 
also involves a new form of slavery." Of course, 
the whole meaning of this is that the survival of 
the fittest, Darwinian evolution in its extremist form, 
is a beneficial thing, and demands war as a beneficial 
institution. Klaus Wagner, in his book, "War," 
page 183, says, "Unless we choose to shut our eyes 
to the necessity of evolution, we must recognize the 
necessity of war. We must accept war, which will 
last as long as development and existence ; we must 
accept eternal war." Prof. Ernst Hasse says in "Die 
Zukunft des Deutschen Volkstums," page 126, " 'War 
is the father of everything,' says Heraclitus. It 
will be the father of the new German race of the 
future." This was written as long ago as 1908. 
The evolutionary origin of this opinion is evident to 
any one familiar with evolutionary teaching. General 
von Bernhardi says in his famous book, "Germany 
and the Next War," to which many attribute the 
present war more than to any other single writing, 

9 



"The efforts directed toward the abolition of war 
must not only be termed foolish, but absolutely 
immoral, and must be stigmatised as unworthy of 
the human race. . . . The weak nation is to have 
the same right as the powerful and vigorous nation! 
The whole idea represents a presumptuous encroach- 
ment on the natural laws of development." Heinrich 
Treitschke, whose teachings share with those of 
Bernhardi and Nietzsche the dishonor of being 
chiefly responsible for the present ruthless war 
spirit in Germany, says in his book, "Politics," Vol- 
ume 1, page 121, "The Germans let the primitive 
Prussian tribes decide whether they should be put 
to the sword or thoroughly Germanized. Cruel as 
these processes of transformation may be, they are 
a blessing for humanity. It makes for health that 
the nobler race should absorb the inferior stock." 
Of course, such a philosophy is clearly evolutionary. 
No one can read the writings that created in Ger- 
many the spirit that led to this war and that in- 
spired the methods by which this war has been car- 
ried on. without seeing that this war is the harvest 
of the seed that Darwin sewed when he gave to 
the world his theory of Evolution by Natural Se- 
lection, and that Herbert Spencer sowed when he 
gave to the world the phrase, "The survival of the 
fittest" and the philosophy that this phrase em- 
bodies. The Germans are persuaded that they are 
"the fittest" and therefore that the Belgians and 
the rest of "the inferior stock" must get out, and 
that it does not matter much how they are exter- 
minated. This may seem to some of you like evolu- 
tionism gone mad, but in point of fact it is only 
evolutionism carried to its logical issue. It is the 
direct outcome of the type of philosophy that has 
ruled our colleges and universities, and even some 
of our theological seminaries, for a generation. We 
are talking about the necessity, for our safety's sake, 
of getting the German language out of our schools ; 
it is far more necessary for our safety, and for the 
safety of the whole human race, that we get this 
soulless, cruel, remorseless philosophy of evolution- 
ism, the egg of which was laid in England and 
hatched in Germany, out of our universities, colleges 
and high schools. Sow evolutionism as taught by 

10 



Darwin and Spencer and you reap Nietzsche, Treit- 
schke and Bernhardi, and then you find you reap 
the present war, with its cruelty, its lust, its murder, 
its rape, its agony, its death, and almost universal 
dissolution and hell. It was interesting week before 
last to hear Prof. Shailer Matthews saying in this 
city that the German philosophy must go, when there 
is no one in all the land who has more persistently 
labored than he to get us to do all our theological 
thinking in the terms of German philosophy and Ger- 
man criticism. If he really means what he says, he 
would better retract and recall some of the stuff 
which he has been sowing broadcast among ministers 
and theological students in the past six months. 

V. THE APPALLING RESULTS OF GERMAN 
RATIONALISM AND DESTRUCTIVE 
CRITICISM. 
The fifth important lesson of the year 1917 is the 
appalling results of German Rationalism and De- 
structive Criticism. This war could never have been 
if an increasingly numerous body of German scholars 
since 1833, when David Strauss gave to the world 
his "Leben Jesu," had not been undermining the 
faith of German preachers, and through them the 
faith of the German people in the Bible as the iner- 
rant Word of God. If the German rulers and people 
had continued to believe as Luther, whose four hun- 
dredth anniversary we celebrated this year, taught 
them to believe, then this war never would have 
been. But David Strauss, Ferdinand Baur, Well- 
hausen Graf, Friedrich Delitzsch and the rest have 
done their work, and behold, the war and its shame 
and its agonies, its death, its destruction, turning 
the earth that was fast becoming a terrestrial para- 
dise, into a terrestrial Inferno, and this same Ra- 
tionalism, and this same Destructive Criticism, de- 
structive in more senses than one, we are teaching 
and exploiting and supporting in our theological 
seminaries throughout our land today, Yale, An- 
dover, Union, Newton, Crozier, Chicago University, 
and many others. Are we Americans fools? Can't 
we lay to heart a lesson that is written so large over 
the year 1917? 

11 



VI. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF INTELLECT- 
UAL CULTURE, SCIENCE, AND PHILOS- 
OPHY TO REGENERATE THE INDI- 
VIDUAL, OR BRING IN THE ' 
KINGDOM OF GOD. 

The sixth great lesson of the year 1917 is the in- 
sufficiency of intellectual culture, science, and phil- 
osophy, to regenerate the individual, or bring in the 
kingdom of God. In recent years many preachers 
and churches have tried to substitute regeneration 
by culture and education for regeneration by 
the power of the Holy Spirit working through 
the instrumentality of the Word of God, and they 
have sought to bring in the kingdom by culture, 
science, philosophy, sociology, instead of by hasten- 
ing the coming of the King. Indeed, they fancied 
they could dispense with the King altogether, and 
have the kingdom without the King's coming. The 
year 1917 proves the utter futility and folly of all 
this. Every unprejudiced scholar knows that the 
highest purely intellectual culture in recent years 
has been in Germany, that Germany is the land in 
which what is called science and philosophy have 
blossomed and born fruit as in no other land. Eng- 
land, Scotland and America have been selecting their 
brightest men and sending them to Germany to 
complete their education. Germany illustrates to the 
full what science and philosoph / and purely intel- 
lectual culture can do, and behold the result ! Is 
Germany the kingdom of God on earth? No, it is 
the kingdom of William, the Second, and the Devil. 
The leaders in Germany, university bred men, many 
of them university professors, are displaying the most 
appalling brutality, the most conscienceless lying, 
the most shocking inhumanity, the most astonishing 
disregard for the most sacred rights of women and 
children, the most complete moral degenercy the 
world has seen for centuries. Germany's "Super- 
man" when he is unmasked proves to be the Devil. 
From this time on Americans, English or Scotch 
will as soon think of sending their children to a 
smallpox hospital as a health resort as to Germany 
for the development of their manhood. 

'•. ! 12 



VII. THE UTTER FAILURE OF MAN WITH- 
OUT GOD. 

The seventh great lesson of the year 1917 is a 
lesson every year since the fall of Adam has taught, 
but this year with peculiar emphasis, and that is, 
the utter failure of man without God. For years 
now the doctrine that has been most popular in 
many circles has been the Doctrine of the Dignity 
and essential Deity of Man. It has not been 
said right out, perhaps, but it has been im- 
plied in much that has been said in poetry, novels, 
science, philosophy, and even theology, that man is 
sufficient unto himself and could get along very 
nicely without God. We have dropped God out of 
our science. We have dropped God out of our 
philosophy. We have dropped God out of our 
ethics. We have dropped God out of our statesman- 
ship, our legislation, our education, our psychology, 
our sociology. Man is the whole thing. "And He 
that sitteth in the heavens has laughed" (Ps. 2:4) 
and said, "Go on without me and see where you 
will get." And where have we gotten? To Hell! 
Man has proved an utter failure. At the present 
time he has proved a success at nothing else but 
at destroying his fellowmen. "Oh, look at our in- 
ventions," we have been crying. "Look at our tele- 
graph and telephone, by which we talk to people 
thousands of miles away. Look at our steam cars, 
by which we fly across the land. Look at our steam- 
ships, by which we fly across the water, and our 
aeroplanes, by which we fly through the air (and kill 
innocent little children at school and babes at their 
mothers' breasts), and our submarines, by which we 
fly under the water." Yes, and what is the principal 
use to which we see them all being put in this year 
of grace 1917? To kill men, women, and innocent 
babes. Man is an utter failure left to himself. We 
need God. Ignoring God, the nations of the earth 
have plunged into war. They are all war-weary. 
They all want to quit, but nobody knows how, except 
the Russians, and they are making the worst botch 
of it of all. We need God, oh, how sorely we need 
God, and we need the old Gospel, too, the Gospel 
of Christ crucified for His enemies, risen, coming 

13 



again. We need not only to have it preached, but 
applied to life. 

VIII. THE FOLLY OF LIVING FOR THE 
WORLD AND WHAT THE WORLD 

HAS TO GIVE. 
The eighth great lesson of the year 1917 is the 
folly of living for the world and what the world 
has to give. God is always crying, "If then ye be 
risen with Christ, seek those things which are 
above, where Christ is seated on the right hand of 
God ; set your affection on things above, not on 
things on the earth." (Col. 3:1, 2.) But the events 
of the present year have been crying it out with a 
voice of thunder. See how thrones and governments 
are toppling ; see how fortunes are vanishing into 
thin air; see how forms of governments are chang- 
ing and passing; see how men are dying; see how 
homes are going to pieces ; see how reputations are 
tumbling; see how vast armies are passing from 
the field of honor into the shades of Sheol. Oh, 
what folly in such days as these to live for money, 
honor, fame, pleasure, or anything else that belongs 
to this fast fading mundane sphere. "Seek the 
things that are above, where Christ is, seated at 
the right hand of God. Set your mind on the 
things that are above, not on the things that are 
upon the earth." (Col. 3:1,2.) 

IX. THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS 

DRAWETH NIGH. 
The ninth great lesson of the year 1917 is, the 
Coming of Our Lord Draweth Nigh. The present 
state and course of things cannot go on much longer. 
Something new, altogether new, must happen. And 
to the thoughtful man the only new thing that prom- 
ises any permanent solution of our grave and over- 
whelming perplexities and embarrassments is the 
long-promised coming of King Emmanuel. The times 
are ripe for it. Furthermore, these are just such 
days as God tells us will immediately precede the 
rising of the Morning Star, the soon rising of the 
Son of Righteousness with healing in His wings, the 

14 



glorious coming of King Jesus. Let me read you 
again from the Bible God's description of the days 
that immediately precede the coming of the King: 
"But know this, that in the last days, grievous times 
shall come, for men shall be lovers of self, lovers of 
money, boastful, haughty, railers, disojbedient to 
parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affec- 
tion, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, 
fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed 
up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 
holding a form of godliness, but having denied the 
power thereof." (2 Tim. 3:1-6).) Now turn from 
that dark picture that is being fulfilled right before 
our eyes, and look at another that begins with 
great darkness, but ends in unutterable brightness 
and glory, Luke 21 :25-28. "And there shall be signs 
in sun and moon and stars ; and upon the earth dis- 
tress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the 
sea and the billows ; men fainting for fear, and for 
expectation of the things which are coming on the 
world : for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 
And- then shall they see the Son of man coming in 
a cloud with power and great glory. But when 
these things begin to come to pass, look up, and 
lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth 
nigh." 

X. THE FOLLY OF SETTING DATES. 

The tenth lesson that the year 1917 teaches is 
closely connected with the ninth, that the coming 
of our Lord draweth nigh, and should always be 
kept in mind in connection with that. This tenth 
lesson is the folly of setting dates for the return of 
our Lord, or for specific events connected with His 
return. Our Lord Himself has warned us in the 
most solemn way that we must not presume to do 
this. He says, "It is not for you to know times or 
seasons, which the Father hath set within His own 
authority" (Acts 1:7). The year 1917 has abounded 
to a hitherto unexampled degree in men who in 
defiance of God's Word have presumed to more 
than hint that Jesus would come for His Church at 
Pentecost this year, and when Pentecost had passed 
they taught that He would come at the "Feast of 
the Trumpets" in September. I implored one 

15 



brother that he would not print what he had written 
on this subject, which was plainly unscriptural. 
Printed, however, it was, and circulated by the tens 
of thousands, resulting in the delaying of God's 
work, the wasting of God's money, the dishonoring 
of God's Word, and the bringing of the Blessed Hope 
into reproach, and now in thirty-six hours 1917 will 
have passed into history, the Lord is not here and 
Jesus Christ is saying again in a voice like the voice 
of many waters, "It is not for you to know times or 
seasons, which the Father hath set within His own 
authority." 

XL WE MUST WORK THE WORKS OF GOD 
WHILE IT IS DAY, FOR THE NIGHT 

COMETH WHEN NO MAN CAN WORK. 
Now we come to the eleventh and last great lesson 
that this year 1917 teaches to which we have time 
to listen this morning, we must work the works of 
Him that sent Jesus Christ while it is day : the night 
cometh, when no man can work. It is certain that 
we are fast hurrying toward the end, fast hurrying 
toward that dark night that shall precede the sun- 
rise. Fast hurrying toward the night when no man 
can work. Fast hurrying toward the closing of the 
days of opportunity at home and abroad. If you 
have money to give, give it now. One hundred 
dollars now will mean more than thousands or even 
millions a little while from now. Are stocks down 
now? They will be up, up in the air, a little while 
from now. Have you prayers to pray? Pray them 
now. They won't count a little while from now. 
Have you souls to save? Save them now. Get to 
work at it at once, for the night is fast hurrying on 
when no man can work. Have you sins to confess? 
Confess them and put them away before the sun 
goes down tonight. Have you misunderstandings 
with your fellowmen to be straightened out? Up 
and at it, the night cometh when they will all be 
asleep and you cannot reach them. Listen once 
more to Jesus as He says again in the words of 
our text, "We must work the works of Him that 
sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when 
no man can work." 

16 



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